AN official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Wednesday lauded congressional moves to consolidate two bills that seek to expand the coverage of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act to fast-track the bill’s approval.
“With the consolidation of the two bills, we expect faster deliberation of the proposed measure,” Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
A bill that seeks to widen the coverage of Expanded Nipas to include 92 protected areas (PA) under Nipas passed the third and final reading in the Senate early in May. At the House, E-Nipas will add 94 PAs. While there are a total of 240 PAs under Nipas, only 13 are backed by legislation.
A House technical working group (TWG) under the natural resources committee led by Rep. Josephine Ramirez Sato of Occidental Mindoro met with DENR-BMB officials last Monday to tackle the consolidation of two E-Nipas bills. The DENR-BMB is the primary agency that has administrative jurisdiction over PAs and national parks.
Lim was represented by Assistant BMB Director Tony Manila during the meeting.
“There are individual bills filed in the House. The natural resources committee, which is in charge of the bills, decided to come up with a consolidated bill. The authors of the individual bills agreed to come up with the consolidated bill,” Lim said.
“I was able to talk to LPGMA Party-List Rep. [Arnel] Ty, the chairman of committee on natural resources who is very supportive of the bill’s passage,” she added.
Lim also lauded the effort of members of the TWG in discussing the provisions in the would-be consolidated E-Nipas bill.
“They met all day, and I was very happy to hear about their diligence in working on the bill,” she added.
The two bills up for consolidation are Sato’s House Bill 177 and Party- list Rep. Rodel Batcabe of Ako’s House Bill 133. The TWG, she said, has decided to exclude some PAs from the original list previously covered by the bills, which was the consensus of the bills’ authors and coauthors.
As part of a consensus among members of the natural resources committee, it was learned that seven of the 101 PAs in the original bill may no longer be included in the E-Nipas coverage.
These are five PAs in Palawan, namely, El Nido Managed Resource Protected Area; Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape; Rasa Island Wildlife Sanctuary; Malampaya Sound Protected Landscape and Seascape; and Puerto Princessa Subterranean River National Park. It was agreed that the five PAs will be under the management and administration of the Palawan Strategic Environment Plan.
Also excluded in the E-Nipas coverage are the Chico Island Wildlife Sanctuary and Naro Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Masbate province.
Rep. Scott Davies Lanete is drafting a separate legislation for the two PAs.
The Ticao-Burias Pass Protected Seascape (TBPPS), meanwhile, will be included as proposed by Rep. Fernando Gonzales of the Third District of Albay, Rep. Evelina Escudero of the First District of Sorsogon and Rep. Maria Vida Bravo of the First District of Masbate. The TBPPS is a PA shared by Albay, Sorsogon and Masbate provinces.
The exclusion of several PAs in the list of PAs will still expand the coverage of the E-Nipas to include 92 PAs in the Senate version or the 94 PAs in the House version if enacted.
This will be a big boost to government effort in protecting and conserving the country’s rich biodiversity, Lim said.
Some of the PAs covered by the E-Nipas are homes to unique species of fauna and flora, as well as national symbols, Lim said.